TARS Chatbot Review: Engage and Convert Audience Automatically

Last Updated on 3 years by Christopher Jan Benitez

In this TARS chatbot review, you will learn the value of chatbots in this age of user-site owner relationship.

You will also find out how to use TARS, arguably one of the better chatbots in the market, to engage your visitors and increase visitors.

To get you started, here’s an overview of the tool so you know what to expect when reading this post:

Without further ado, let’s get on with this!

A collaborative relationship between user and site owner

Imagine this:

You’re planning to go on a major cross-country road trip and you’re looking for hotels to book.

After a few searches, you click on the first few links topping the results page, hoping to get more information about the hotels.

But no matter how hard you look, you can’t seem to get all the information that you want.

So, you decide to move on to the next website, and the next, until you find whatever it is that you’re looking for or you just lose interest.

Think you’re the only one who has this habit when checking out different websites online?

Well, according to this study, the human attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish.

But here’s the thing: it’s not entirely their fault!

Internet users these days have very little patience for slow-loading websites and are also less tolerant of even minor website fault when they’re dissatisfied with the products or services of a brand. Bad UX included.

And they should.

The problem with most websites these days is that they lack usability.

Sure, they may be packed with all the bells and whistles that make websites look good.

But the design and layout of many landing pages don’t really grab the attention of their target audience. Neither does the content.

So if you think about it, the relationship between the site owner and visitor work both ways!

Therefore, whether you’re a blogger or business owner, your success lies in how well you can interact with your audience.

It’s not enough that you have a message to convey or a product to sell. You also need to provide them with a personalized experience that is tailored to their specific needs and desires.

So, what’s the most effective and easiest way to interact with your audience?

This is where the chatbot comes in – a type of program that is primarily designed to quickly respond to messages.

Their purpose is to engage in a conversation using templated and customizable messages for all sorts of situations.

Why use chatbots in the first place?

Ever since the first chatbot program in 1966, people have a fascination with this aspect of artificial intelligence.

And with popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WeChat running their own chatbots, more and more companies are starting to see the importance of using chatbots to help them address their customers’ needs.

From media companies to airlines, and even healthcare providers, different brands are currently looking for innovative ways to use chatbots to increase customer engagement.

But why are chatbots so popular?

According to this study, speed and availability are the two main reasons why consumers use chatbots.

37% of Americans say that in the middle of an emergency, they would rely on a chatbot to give them a quick answer.

64% of those surveyed also said that they think that the chatbot’s 24-service house is its best feature.

Now, I know that integrating chatbots into your website can seem intimidating. Despite its long list of benefits, many companies are still hesitant to use robots or Artificial intelligence because of the wrong notion that it will eventually replace human effort.

The truth is, it’s going to be a while before robots start to take over the world, or your website at least.

Even though there are already countless tools you can use, in the end, it still boils down to how well you use these tools to provide a personalized experience.

The relationships you build with your clients will always be more valuable than any automated system you use. What’s important is that you choose the right tool that will help you take full advantage of chatbot technology.

There are countless chatbot apps available out there but for this review, we’re going to focus solely on an industry favorite called TARS.

TARS chatbot review: What is it?

TARS* is a platform that lets users, even those who are programming “illiterate” to build all sorts of chatbots to help you engage with both your potential and existing customers better.

Instead of building forms as a lead generation catch mechanism or a lead generation tool, you can build a chatbot that will help you get the information you need, without it being boring or cumbersome to your audience.

What’s impressive about TARS is that it has already helped more than 9,000 bot creators build 16,000 chatbots and has completed over 12,000,000 conversations since it was first introduced to the world in 2016. And with tech giants investing heavily in AI come 2020, TARS or chatbot technology for that matter shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

What makes TARS different from other chatbots?

TARS is a drag and drop bot builder that promises to help you increase your conversion rate by 50%.

It makes starting a conversation with your audience much easier and promises to give you results that static pages can’t deliver.

Since the platform is pretty straightforward to use, all you have to do is sign up for an account to start building and customizing your first bot.

While TARS may seem a bit more expensive than other chatbot systems, it’s packed with more features that will make all your marketing efforts worth it.

If you’re working with AdWords PPC ads, TARS is the only chatbot system that you can integrate into your campaigns. Simply direct them to the specific chatbot conversation URL instead of your usual landing page to get the conversation started.

What’s more, all your leads will be stored in the TARS Analytics dashboard for your future use.

With the TARS chatbot platform, you’ll never have a lead slip through your fingers ever again!

How to use TARS?

One of TARS’ biggest selling points is that anyone can quickly get the hang of it. Just follow this step by step guide to create your very first chatbot from scratch.

Step 1: Once you’ve signed up for an account, simply go to the dashboard and click on the “Create a new ChatBot” to access the Bot Canvas.

Step 2: Before building your bot, make sure to give it a name. You can also choose to edit a bot from the pre-made templates.

Step 3: Plan out your chat flow and start adding gambits. A gambit is a single piece of conversation between the bot and the user.

Step 4: Make changes in a gambit by clicking on it and adding questions and statements based on the information that you want to get from users.

The TARS bot builder offers you different types of Input UI, from standard text input to date scroller input.

Step 5: To make the conversation flow, you will need to add more gambits and connect them to each other. This is the part where you can really personalize your interaction with your audience.

Step 6: Ready to end the conversation? Then click on the “Auto Page Redirection” option on the Text Input dropdown menu.

Here, you can choose to set a landing page to where the bot will redirect the users after the chat ends. You can leave the space blank if you just want the bot to end without any redirection.

Step 7: Time to show your creation to the world! Hit the red “Deploy Bot” button and wait for the live link to turn blue.

Try out your bot to check if it works just how you want it. If you need to make any revisions to the chat flow, be sure to click the “Deploy Bot” button again to save and apply the changes.

Step 8: Sharing is caring. You can share your chatbot via its web link or by embedding it to your website. Just copy the code and insert it before the tag of the page where you want to show on your website. This will place the chatbot button in the bottom right corner of the page. It’s really that easy!

In case you didn’t notice, I have a TARS bot set up at the bottom right side of my site. Click it to activate and chat with it!

If you cant’ view it, click here to load it on a new window.

Now that you basically know how to build your first ever chatbot, here’s one way that you can put this newly-acquired skill to good use.

How to use TARS for lead generation?

85% of marketers believe that lead generation is the most important step in any marketing strategy. WIthout a solid plan for catching leads, you’re missing out on the chance to make some real money online.

The good news is, there are plenty of ways that you can generate leads online. The bad news is, some of these techniques aren’t as effective as they used to be. Case and point the static landing page with a built-in form.

What used to be a brilliant tool is slowly losing favor among expert marketers because frankly, there’s nothing exciting about it anymore.

People have become so used to seeing a pop-up form on every website they visit that they have started to ignore it.

Unless you can use your web form to make “an offer that your target audience can’t refuse”, it’s going to take you a while to grow your subscriber list.

The great thing about TARS is that it engages your target audience with a conversation.

This doesn’t just make the interaction much more personal, it also adds a human element to it.

With TARS, the qualification process is quicker and more effective because your leads aren’t dying of boredom as they fill out long forms. The chatbot makes them feel more at ease because it’s as if they’re only talking with an old friend.

Just take a look at how TARS simplified lead generation for Babychakra.com.

Before they signed up for TARS, generating and converting leads was a long and tedious process.

They used a form on their website with only three fields to boost their conversion rate.

For every lead, they would make a series of phone calls and emails to try to convert it.

Because the entire process required immense effort from their part, Babychakra.com tried using a form that asked for more input.

While it significantly cut their manual efforts, it also killed their conversion rate. Their prospects simply didn’t have the time or patience to complete the long form.

Using the TARS chat UI, BabyChakra designed a simple and intuitive chatbot that collected all the information they need from their prospects.

Since answering to a chatbot feels like less work than answering a long form, their prospects were more than happy to provide the information that the company needed from them.

BabyChakra was able to grow their conversion rate three times over and reduce their manual efforts, all thanks to the chatbot they built on TARS.

TARS Pricing

For those who want to give TARS a go, you can enjoy a 14-day FREE trial with no credit card info needed.

Monthly fee starts at $99 for 5 chatbots and 1,000 chats per month.

There’s also a custom plan for agency accounts, which includes access to the entire TARS platform and a dedicated chatbot manager who can help you make the most out of the system so you can maximize your ROI.

What are the pros and cons of Tars?

Pros

• The bot builder is very intuitive and easy to use. You can build and launch your first chatbot on your website in as short as 2 hours from your signup.
• The TARS community is thriving with bot builders who aren’t just supportive, but they’re also involved, ambitious, and very creative with their use of TARS.
• The support and development team are responsive and helpful. Developers are constantly releasing new features that let users take full advantage of the TARS platform.

Cons

• Users have limited options when it comes to customizing the aesthetics of the TARS user interface to suit their preference.
• The Bot Canvas has the tendency to become cluttered when building complex chatbots. May require basic development skills if you’re looking to integrate API in your chatbots.
• Some bots may take a while to load, especially when they’re embedded on a different landing page system.

TARS chatbot review: Verdict?

TARS is perfect for entrepreneurs, bloggers, and startup owners who are looking for a more engaging and innovative way to reach out to their audience.

Instead of building a form or a survey for customers to get in touch, chatbots offer a much effective solution to get people involved.

Even if you have limited programming knowledge, you can get TARS to work wonders for you!

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